This paper presents the rationale, development and application of "Unplugged', a new school programme for the prevention of substance abuse, which is based on the comprehensive social influence approach (CSI). The programme was developed, implemented and evaluated by a cross-disciplinary group of experts in the frame of a multi-centre study…

Fiste is a three year Comenius project based on a need for innovative and effective ideas for in-service teacher education. The Fiste project is funded by the European Comenius and deals with the use of new web based educational technologies for teaching in-service teachers in Europe. The Fiste's main task is to create a common in-service…

Traces the development of two innovative and successful in-service teacher education programs to prepare teachers to incorporate bilingual instruction (Castilian-Catalan) in Catalonia. Both of the short-term, transitory programs have reinforced the importance of regional language as well as provided an intermediate solution to the long-term need…

Describes a European project based on writing a book from an educational perspective. Participants included 18 schools from 13 countries. The study originated in a Spanish Comenius 3.1 project, which determined that university teams would visit "book writing" schools, supporting teachers and analyzing and publishing their experiences.…

After 16 years of transition from dictatorship to democracy, Spain's teacher education system has not changed substantially. The existing model is much criticized, but politics impede the process of change. The proposed new model for preservice training shows little innovation, but some progress is seen in inservice training. (MSE)

In 1984, the Spanish government created Teachers' Centres as part of educational reform. These were intended to improve teacher inservice education and foster professionalism. The pre-Civil War pedagogical culture was somehow maintained in a few movements of "Pedagogical Renovation." The guiding principle of these movements was that…

Spain is currently a hot spot for English language teaching due not only to the legal educational changes and publisher's efforts to improve the Spanish students' competence but also because of the increasing interest of educational authorities and general teachers in action research and optimizing the teaching standards. To achieve these…

The Council of Europe's third seminar on Gypsy and migrant children's education attracted 75 educators from 6 European countries. This report provides a synopsis of each of eight plenary lectures and complete reports from four workshops. An introduction offers background information and an opening address by Jean-Pierre Liegois is given in full.…

In Spain, many aspects of educational reform began with the social movements arising in the 1960s. By the end of the 1970s, as the first democratic local elections were held, psychologists, educators, and social workers began to work toward schools that would compensate for the social and individual disadvantages of many students. These efforts…

This article examines the problems of lower secondary education in Spain (ESO, or compulsory secondary education), in view of the implementation of several education reforms, focusing on their effect on the crisis in secondary teachers' professional identity. Using research data, we analyse their experience of the crisis and the problems involved…

Suggests an evaluation framework for language teachers' inservice courses regarding the degree to which they offer participants the opportunity to become more open to "otherness." The article describes training courses in five European countries and examines how they typically bring participants into contact with natives of another…

Examines the role of educational research in preservice and inservice teacher education in Spain. The paper presents information on legislation from 1970-90, research and teacher training, centers that promote educational research, research dissemination and utilization, new trends in educational research, and teacher educators. (SM)

The rapid growth of online learning has led to the development of faculty inservice evaluation models focused on quality improvement of degree programs. Based on current "best practices" of student online assessment, the Online Faculty Development and Assessment System (OFDAS), created at the Canary Islands, was designed to serve the…

This selection of the papers presented at a conference includes 6 introductory papers, 32 papers dealing with innovations and experiences in the authors' own countries, and reports from 6 working groups. These working groups addressed the six key topic areas of the conference: (1) relationships between new technologies and labor relations and…